The following article is composed from
abridged extracts of the personal diary of team member Steve
Green, who visited Bulgaria with Harvest Plus for the first
time in November 2007. Whilst there the small team of volunteers
helped distribute the boxes of food and blankets collected
in Essex during the harvest time earlier that year.

Tuesday November 6th

After breakfast at our hotel in
Berkovitsa we collected some boxes and headed for a home for
children with mental disabilities. The children seemed well
cared for. In one room I met a girl with a severe cleft pallet.
I held her hand and she gripped tightly, not wanting to let
go. As I went outside I was very moved. It is hard to come
to terms with the fact that it is highly unlikely that she
will ever get an operation.

We then went to an elderly people's
home. The 'day room' there was hard to believe. A dingy square
room with seats around the walls. In the middle was a drain
hole so they can wash the floor easily. No other features
in the room, no TV, no soft seating. That was it. Again I
found it sad, moving and hard to accept that just because
these people are elderly and no one is paying their way that
they end up in such basic, deprived conditions. We saw the
existing building and rooms which are old and run-down. We
then went to see a newly built wing which includes 'home environment'
units where a home setting is replicated with a number of
residents and carers spending the daytime there and preparing
and eating meals together. The unit has a kitchen and living
room like a small flat. This new wing was wonderful. The director
of this home, Bobby, is a visionary. The new unit cost £60k
which he has collected by good budgeting. He spoke to us for
half an hour about the place and his efforts to improve it.
He told us that the food boxes had come at the perfect time
as their stocks were run down and they had no money to replenish
them.

After
lunch we went to another elderly people’s home. Conditions
were poor. Buildings were old. The staff do their best with
old equipment but they need a new industrial washing machine,
drier and spinner. Keeping residents in clean clothes is a
mammoth task at the best of times but without good equipment
it is made even harder.

Wednesday 7th November

Our
convoy was now 3 vehicles, the mini-bus driven by Kamen, Rady’s
car and now the ambulance. An uneventful journey soon brought
us to a hilltop overlooking Lom from where you could see the
huge cranes of the river port. The sight of the ambulance
next to the Lom sign was a great photo opportunity and symbolised
the end of the mammoth 1600 mile journey for Jason, Kevin
and Roger who had driven it across Europe.

We checked into our hotel in Lom and left
straight away for the hospital where we were expected. A small
committee greeted us at the hospital entrance where there
were ceremonial photos with the hospital director. We then
had an audience with the director where we learned about the
working of the hospital and also got a rather protracted explanation
of the Bulgarian health service. The most important point
though was that you must have insurance to get treatment in
a hospital in Bulgaria, something far beyond the financial
reaches of most of the needy people we had met and would go
on to meet on our Bulgarian odyssey. It was made clear however
that anyone entering the hospital with real urgent medical
requirements would be tended to, regardless of insurance.
This is admirable but it does then have an effect on the hospital’s
own finances as they do not have budget to care for uninsured
patients.

As
with the directors of other institutions, we were then given
a tour of just about the entire hospital. Great efforts are
being made here to renovate the building and update the equipment.
In the X-ray department an old x-ray machine has been converted
to produce a digital output. Very resourceful and apparently
effective as there are ambitions to repeat the conversion
on a second machine. Having lots of personal experience of
cutting edge scanning technology on CT and MRI scanners, I
was thinking to myself that it was hard to accept that the
patients at this hospital would not get such accurate diagnoses
through a lack of modern scanning equipment. The next room
silenced the little voice in my head. There stood a CT scanner
in all it’s glory, purchased second hand from the NHS
at considerable expense to the hospital but of course at a
bargain price compared to a new one.

The rest of the tour included the maternity
ward. The cots were made of thick wire mesh and the birthing
room looked austere and harsh. Where there would be a big
bed in a UK hospital, there was a chair complete with stirrups.
It didn’t look very welcoming. The décor was
all very tatty too. We did go on to see some beautifully renovated
rooms and facilities. There is hope here but they can only
do it a bit at a time as the money becomes available.

My thoughts, as I am sure those of the
others, were turning to lunch. These were quickly dashed as
we said our farewells and drove straight to a mental institution.
Fortunately we had a supply of bananas and crisps to stave
off hunger which had been given to us by Pastor Nina on our
earlier visit to her church.

The
main building was quite dark inside and the many residents
were all milling around, looking at this gaggle of visitors
who could at best only say things like hello in Bulgarian.
It all seemed a bit hopeless looking at such a run down building.
Then things changed as we went next door into a new, purpose
built facility which will sleep 24 people just 2 to a room
and give them a lovely big day room. New beds, wardrobes,
tables and chairs were stacked up inside the main lobby ready
to be used. All of this furniture had been paid for by Harvest
Plus earlier in the year.

It was great to see the new building,
but the residents were not in there yet. A bit of red tape
still needed to be cut by the council before it could be commissioned.
On returning to the mini-bus my phone was ringing. On the
other end was someone from Spain asking me about photos from
a conference I had organised at work. I explained where I
was and what I was doing and said I would get back to her
when I went back to England. It was so strange having a work
phone call break into this ‘other world’. A reminder
that in just a few days I would be back in my centrally heated
house with a full fridge and cupboards. A reminder that when
we got home, the efforts must not stop.

Farewells again and onto a classroom project
which takes in Roma children and those from single parent
families to give them education opportunities. About the size
of a classroom at my old high school, with tables and chairs
of about the same age. George and Natalia were pioneering
the project and once again, were making best use of resources
as they became available. A second room needed serious renovation
so they could use it. They need proper desks and chairs and
although it’s great that they even have computers, they
are probably ‘out of the ark’.

Thursday November 8th

After breakfast we went to the box store
and loaded the mini-bus and the ambulance which we were hanging
onto for a couple of days, with boxes bound for the orphanage.
As we went through the boxes we managed to find all four of
the specially decorated boxes from the nursery where Hazel
(my wife) works.

We
arrived there and unloaded, posed for photos with the boxes
and went inside.

The director welcomed us into her office
and gave us an informative talk, translated as ever by Rady
and Plami who by now felt like family. The director had been
at this place for 23 years but had only recently been appointed
director. She explained that renovations were ongoing as money
came in to carry out work. The orphanage was a happy place.
It had a different feel to it than the institutions we had
been to already. The children were loud and cheerful. They
were all very excited about the group of visitors that was
walking around their home. The home housed children from the
age of 3. We met Marina aged 11 who was very pleased to show
us her room which she shared with another 5 children. Her
friend Renee was not quite as forward but her face spelled
mischief! Later we met Eduardo, Marina’s 7 year old
brother. Marina cuddled him for a photo.

Visiting
the nursery was wonderful. It was full with about 12 toddlers
who were in their cots. Having met so many disabled people
so far, my first thoughts were that they all were either disabled
themselves or were just too weak and had to stay in bed. To
be told by one of the staff that they were getting ready for
their afternoon nap was a breath of fresh air. A small dose
of normality was a huge relief. To hear something that us
westerners find normal really made us smile. The children
were adorable and even included twin girls. We gave out Beany
Teddies which were very well received. I played with one little
girl. I started a game of making our teddies kiss, with the
kissing sound. She quickly joined in. It was a ‘moment’.
There was no language barrier. We were just playing together.

We
were nearing the end of our visit and I popped back upstairs
to go to the loo. I didn’t get that far before another
girl from Marina’s room grabbed me by the hand and took
me back to their room where the girls along with Eduardo,
all wanted to pose for more photos. The girls posed like fashion
models. It really showed that these 11 year olds are on the
verge of becoming young women and that these young people
are a key part of Bulgaria’s future. We should draw
strength from this and be encouraged to carry on supporting
them however we can. The happiness and the energy in these
young people was wonderful. We have to do our best to keep
that energy alive.

Again, we said farewells as Mike blew
soap bubbles in the air for the group of children that had
gathered to say goodbye. With big smiles on everyone’s
faces, including our own, we set off for our next visit.

This time it was an elderly people’s
home outside Lom. As had become the routine, the Director
greeted us and boxes were unloaded and piled up for a photo.
Then into the Director’s office for his talk about the
home. The Director was smartly dressed and his office was
smart too with well ordered filing shelves. You could tell
that this was a tight ship. When we walked around the building
it was clear that this was well run, well maintained and in
far better order than homes we had seen earlier in the week.
The amazing thing though is that it is run on the same budget
as the very run-down buildings and facilities we’d seen
before. The difference being that this Director was making
the very best of the money and resources at his disposal.

We met some residents and gave them blankets
which delighted them. I gave a particularly large blanket
to a couple in their own room. We all hugged and had a photo
together. I told them in my pigeon Bulgarian that I was pleased
to meet them and although we could not hold a conversation,
it was another special moment.

Feeling restored after a sandwich lunch
back in Lom we hit the box store for more supplies and then
headed out of town to the very outskirts, this time using
Rady’s father’s mini-bus so that Kamen could have
the night off. You could tell we were near the Roma ghetto
when we turned off the main road onto a side road, then off
that onto a mud track which was unlit and full of large puddles
and pot-holes.

We were met by a couple who I think lived
in the ghetto. It was through them that we gained access to
some people’s homes to give them some food boxes.

Carrying
one of Hazel’s decorated boxes, I went into a small
room which was home to about 6 people. 3 children and a baby
were on the sofa. I held the little hands of the baby boy
who although clothed and under a blanket, was quite cold.
We filled the house as four or five of us crammed in carrying
blankets. Through a translated conversation with the children’s
aunt, we learned that the mother was away working and that
the toddler twins we had met in the nursery at the orphanage
were siblings to these children but could not be supported
at the moment. The children’s faces were a picture as
I opened a packet of chocolate bars and gave each of them
a milky way.

The
next home we entered was a busy scene. Three grandmother figures
all sat shelling walnuts into a pan, the floor covered in
shells and husks. Several children were in the room plus a
man who must have been the father. It was lively and noisy.
There were translated conversations on the other side of the
room. I stayed near the door as I could not move further in,
there were so many people there. I stood next to the ‘gaggle’
of 3 grannies who dutifully shelled walnuts which were presumably
to sell. They started talking to me animatedly. I so wished
I could engage them in conversation but all I could say was
“neh razbiram”, I didn’t understand. One
gestured towards a young boy, her grandson perhaps. So I tested
my extended Bulgarian repertoire and said “edno sin”.
Not sure that she understood me, I carried on smiling in the
right places until Rady was making for the door. I asked him
to talk to the lady who had indeed understood that I had one
son “Edno sin” and that she wished him a long
and happy life. I must learn more Bulgarian! Like with so
many people I had met, I wished I could have had a decent
conversation with the old ladies.

Outside I played hide and seek with a
young boy who kept hiding behind his grandfather’s legs.
His grin was amazing as we played.

As we traveled back toward the edge of
the ghetto, Jason arrived back from Montana where he had spent
the day registering the ambulance with the Bulgarian authorities.
He was just in time to present a box to our last house call.

Jason’s
visit was to a dwelling which unlike the others, had no electricity.
A small room in which a father and his children live. The
only heat was from a small stove, the only light from a candle.
It was dark by now and the picture does not do the scene justice
as the flash from the camera shatters the darkness in this
tiny house.

Jason gave the man a family food box.
The man opened it very slowly. He took out each item in bewilderment.
Jason described the man’s reaction as sheer amazement
that this group of people had traveled from England to give
him some food.

As
we left the ghetto, I noticed the lights of Lom in the distance.
The picture brought the reality home, the reality that the
Roma people live in the poorest of conditions just a few miles
from a big town. A situation which is similar in so many cities
across the world.

Thursday was by far our busiest day. We
had been to so many different places and to top it all, we
had visited a ghetto where a large family lives in a space
no bigger than a small bedroom in an average family house
in the UK. OK, most of them have electricity and a TV, but
that doesn’t really make up for the fact that the children
probably only have the clothes they are wearing and spend
most of their time hungry. One girl of about 3 was padding
round on the mud outside in nothing else than a t-shirt. No
shoes, no underwear. This was the world Roger had described
when he tried to prepare us for what we would see on our trip.
A world so far from our own, and yet the newest member of
the EU, just a bit to the South of the Europe we think of
as our back yard.

Friday November 9th

We
walked into town for breakfast with Natalia and Milko, our
contacts from the Municipality. Omelettes were enjoyed by
all. Then yet again we went to the box store for more supplies.
We didn’t have far to travel to our first stop however
as it was the pre-school or ‘Kindergarten’ as
they call it in Bulgaria, which was across the road from the
box store. The Bulgarian language seems to be taking on words
from various western European countries including France and
in this case, Germany.

The ‘Kindergarten’ was a lovely
happy place. We came not only with food boxes to help the
staff feed the children through the winter, but with a supply
of play tents. Roger and I hastily erected one outside and
presented it. About 20 children all tried to get into it at
once. They loved it. The children sang for us in Bulgarian
and then sang happy birthday, or at least a song to that tune!
It was a lovely visit to a place which had a warm, happy feel
to it. It is worth noting however that there were no Roma
children at this pre-school.

Next
stop was at a food kitchen which provided a ‘meals-on-wheels’
service to over 150 people every day in Lom and it’s
suburbs. The building was put up as a temporary measure a
few years ago and is still in use. The kitchens are very old
and the whole place has a sort of portakabin feel to it with
its metal steps up to the first floor office. This service
is a real lifeline to many people who pay varying rates for
their 3 course meal service, depending on their personal means.
Home help duties such as cleaning and tidying are also provided
as an added extra although they are not strictly part of the
service.

Another
short journey took us to a ‘half way house’ which
is directed by the same man that directs the ‘meals-on-wheels’
service. This was in a house which gives refuge to people
who find themselves with nowhere to live. We gave more food,
some blankets and met a man staying there who had no shoes.
The director had given him his cast-offs which the man was
very pleased with. Roger agreed to give the director some
project money to pay for some shoes when they were needed
by visitors to the half way house.

Next on our whistle-stop tour was a special
needs school. Housed in a very large building, the school
was, by modern standards, in a state of dilapidation. The
school is partly residential so we gave some blankets out
as well as food boxes. A separate building housed a large
hall and kitchen. Like so many of these big, old buildings
from Bulgaria’s communist era, there were very high
ceilings which make these places so hard and expensive to
heat. Diesel to fuel heating is something which crops up on
the wish list of just about every facility we visited.

After lunch, Roger and Jason faced the
cameras for an interview by a local TV channel, ably translated
by Rady. Yet more boxes were then loaded up and we went off
to another elderly people’s home. It was a fleeting
visit. We gave more food and took blankets into several residents.
I presented blankets to a couple in their room. They were
delighted and there were hugs all round and a picture was
taken of us together. Another emotional scene was when Sue
met a lady who’s husband had died just a month ago.
No words were spoken but the tears flowed as Sue gave her
a hug. The love was felt beyond the language barrier.